Biofuels

Lotus conducts research study into engine efficiency when utilising sustainable second and third generation bio fuels

August 12, 2008 -- Lotus Engineering, the world renowned automotive consultancy division of Lotus announces a collaboration with Queen’s University Belfast and Jaguar Cars Ltd to develop an engine which maximises fuel efficiency when running on renewable fuels. The OMNIVORE concept will employ novel engine architecture to achieve a high thermal efficiency when fuelled on any alcohols or gasoline.

Pilot Plant Gasification Technology Traces to GM Ohio Foundry

MADISON, Pa., 2008-04-25 – General Motors Corp.’s role in helping Coskata Inc. bring its next-generation cellulosic ethanol to market traces back a quarter of a century to technology developed for a GM iron foundry in northwest Ohio.

Coskata announced Friday that its pilot plant will be located at the Westinghouse Plasma Center in Madison, the current site of a pilot-plant gasifier.

Gasification is the first step in Coskata’s process to make ethanol out of practically any renewable source. Plasma torches are used to super heat source material, such as agricultural and municipal solid waste, to 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit, which creates a synthesis gas comprised of carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

Oshawa, ON, Tuesday, February 26, 2008 – General Motors of Canada welcomes the federal budget measures announced today to help increase the availability of green E85 ethanol bio-fuel at fuel stations across Canada. General Motors Canada currently offers 12 different E85 Ethanol flexible fuel model choices (vehicles that can seamlessly run on fuel containing up to 85% ethanol or regular gasoline). According to Natural Resources Canada’s GHGenius study, net CO2 emissions from vehicles using E85 Ethanol Bio-fuels are 47-55% lower than using regular gasoline.

New Data Proves Biobutanol Can Increase the Blending of Biofuels in Gasoline Beyond the Current 10 Percent Limit for Ethanol

HAMBURG, Germany, Feb. 14, 2008 -- DuPont (NYSE:DD) and BP (NYSE:BP) have announced that the partnership to develop and commercialize biobutanol is targeting advanced metabolic pathways for 1-butanol as well as other higher octane biobutanol isomers. The companies also announced that testing of these advanced biofuels demonstrates the use of biobutanol can increase the blending of biofuels in gasoline beyond the current 10 percent limit for ethanol without compromising performance.

Joint exploration of the potential for a biodiesel industry based on Jatropha

Stuttgart -- Jan 09, 2008 -- Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), Bayer CropScience AG and Daimler AG plan to jointly explore the potential for a biodiesel industry based on Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.). A respective Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the companies. Jatropha, a tropical plant from the Euphorbia family, is seen by the three cooperating partners as a promising alternative energy feedstock for the production of biodiesel.

Biodiesel derived from Jatropha nut kernels has properties similar to those of biofuels obtained from oilseed rapes. It is also characterized by a positive CO2 balance and can thus contribute to protecting the climate.

Testing Production of Plants for Biofuels on Once-Polluted Land

Auburn Hills, Mich., Dec 11, 2007 - The collaboration between Chrysler LLC and a research team from Michigan State University (MSU) to test production of crops for renewable fuels has completed its second year of work at a former Superfund site in rural Michigan.

The MSU team has harvested its second year of five crops that are feedstocks for ethanol or biodiesel, the two major renewable fuels in use in the U.S. The crops include soybeans, sunflowers and canola for biodiesel production, and corn and switchgrass for making ethanol.

DOE Announces over $1 Billion in Biofuels R&D Projects this Year

December 4, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC – DOE Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced the selection of four biofuels projects in which DOE plans to invest up to $7.7 million. These projects will demonstrate the thermochemical conversion process of turning grasses, stover, the non-edible portion of crops and other materials into biofuel. Combined with today’s announcement, just this calendar year, DOE has announced over $1 billion in funding for biofuels research and development (multi-year funding) projects.

2007-11-30 -- GM Statement from Alan Adler, manager, Biofuels Communications:

The cost-benefit analysis of E85 ethanol prepared by the Pardee Rand Graduate School and cited in the Friday, Nov. 30 edition of USA Today fails to take into account several positive factors of the renewable fuel made from 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

E85 is not yet widely available in the United States – less than 1 percent of fueling stations offer it today – and prices vary widely. Some gasoline stations peg the price of E85 to gasoline, so when gasoline goes up or down in price, E85 rides with it. Elsewhere, especially in regions where ethanol is more widely available, the price of E85 is as much as a dollar a gallon less.

Washington, D.C., October 22, 2007 -- Congress should slow down and consider the potential adverse consequences before it rushes ahead with a plan to dramatically increase mandated use of biofuels, according to a new report by the non-profit Clean Air Task Force.

The Boston-based environmental research group reported today that similar mandates in the European Union have led to unanticipated environmental problems including an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. "Due to tropical deforestation driven by the EU's biofuels policy, the biofuels in use in Europe can be as much as 8 times worse than petroleum based fuels when it come to greenhouse gas emissions," said Jonathan Lewis, CATF staff attorney and author of the report.

Main goal of Volkswagen’s commitment is the widespread market introduction of BTL, a second-generation biofuel

Wolfsburg, 11 October 2007 - Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft and Daimler AG have each acquired a minority shareholding in CHOREN Industries GmbH, Freiberg. Contracts to this effect were signed today in Freiberg. The main goal of the commitment by the two companies is the widespread market introduction of BTL (biomass to liquid), a climate-friendly second-generation synthetic fuel.